Welcome to Top-Shelf Takes, a weekly series from staff writer Mary Clarke all about the NHL. Lace up your skates as we dive deep into the epic highs and lows of this little sport called hockey.
Been awhile, hasn’t it?
Now that the calendar has flipped to 2023 and the holidays have come to an end, the 2022-23 NHL season has hit its midway point. And surprisingly, we’ve yet to see a head coach fired by the halfway juncture.
Given how high the turnover often is in the NHL at the head coaching position, it’s rare to last this long into a season without seeing one bench boss canned. It’s hard to say if there’s any real reason behind this phenomenon, but considering this is the year to be bad with a chance to draft Connor Bedard on the line, it makes a bit of sense that some teams are just doing the bare minimum here.
Still, a chance for higher lottery odds are unlikely to save the jobs of all the coaches on the hot seat. Someone has to be the first head coach fired this NHL season, so here are our five best guesses as to who the unlucky soul could be.
Bruce Boudreau, Vancouver Canucks
I’m honestly shocked Boudreau wasn’t fired earlier this season when the Canucks got off to a horrific start. Vancouver did rebound at the start of November and went from being a depressing hockey team to just plain mediocre, but even then this is clearly not the season this team wanted to have at all. Another slide could very well cost Boudreau his job — for real this time.
Dallas Eakins, Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks have been quite abysmal this year, with the NHL’s worst goal differential at minus-73 and it’s not even close. Firing Eakins isn’t going to magically make the team better, that’s for sure, but it would at least be a wake up call to this team that has seemingly been sleepwalking through much of this season.
Brad Larsen, Columbus Blue Jackets
Yes, it’s truly unfortunate that the Blue Jackets are dealing with the worst injury luck imaginable. But honestly, I don’t think the team would even be playoff ready at full strength anyway. Larsen hasn’t shown much promise as a head coach these last two years and the team’s decision to go after Johnny Gaudreau in the offseason looks worse by the day. While he could be an offseason departure, I don’t think Larsen will be the bench boss for Columbus much longer.
D.J. Smith, Ottawa Senators
The Senators talked a big game in the offseason with their major acquisitions that moved the needle on paper, but the improvements haven’t manifested yet on ice. Smith is 81-104-24 with the Senators over the last four seasons, a record that doesn’t inspire confidence given how important this year was supposed to be. It’s way past due for the Senators to move on from Smith.
Craig Berube, St. Louis Blues
The Blues have been inconsistent all season long, with recent returns an overall positive for St. Louis. However, the Blues are still out of a playoff spot in mid-January and staring up at a long list of competitors for the wild card. Berube’s meant a lot to this organization in helping them win a Stanley Cup back in 2019, but his firing could light a fire under this team if the organization believes the Blues are too stagnant.